Anixa Biosciences announced that the company and its partner, OntoChem, have identified additional candidates through their in silico screening study. In addition to four compounds that target an endoribonuclease (also known as Non-Structural Protein-15, or NSP-15) and one additional core compound that targets the main protease (Mpro) of the virus, Anixa and OntoChem have identified 26 additional compounds targeting Mpro.
"After identifying the initial core chemical structure that targets the Mpro, we built a broader chemical library around that structure and screened all of those compounds. The result was a group of over 8,000 chemicals that could be strong disruptors of this coronavirus enzyme. These compounds were then evaluated through additional machine learning and screening to identify those that demonstrated the best drug-like characteristics. This subset library consisted of 317 molecules that were further evaluated in silico. The resulting 26 best candidates are being further evaluated, and we expect to select a number of them to be synthesized for further testing," said Dr. Amit Kumar, President and CEO of Anixa Biosciences. "These compounds are novel enough that we have also begun drafting our first U.S. provisional patent to protect these molecules. We expect to file this patent shortly."
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"Biological testing of the initial four NSP-15 molecules is ongoing. The new Mpro compounds are currently being synthesized, and upon completion will also be evaluated in biological assays. Because the Mpro is a very active target being studied by many research groups around the world, we wanted to file our patent before the completion of synthesis and before we share these molecules with service providers needed to help us complete the biological assays," Dr. Lutz Weber, CEO of OntoChem said.